Achievements and milestones of Taylor Swift
American singer-songwriter and record producer, Taylor Swift, achieved and broke several local and world records throughout her career (2006-''present''). As of today, Swift sold over 25 million albums and over 96 million singles in the U.S. alone. With over 170 million records sold worldwide, Taylor Swift is one of the most successful recording artists of the last two decades. Achievements and milestones Albums *''Fearless'' is the most awarded album in the history of country music, winning Album of the Year at the 52nd Annual Grammy Awards, American Music Awards of 2009, Country Music Association, and Academy of Country Music Awards. *Taylor Swift's "Speak Now" is the first album to have all its songs chart on the Billboard Hot 100, also giving Swift the record for most entries off of one album, with 14, which was later on surpassed by Beyonce's "Lemonade". * Swift is the first artist since Beatles to have four consecutive albums (Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989) log six or more weeks at #1 on Billboard's Top 200 Chart. The Beatles logged six or more weeks at #1 with seven consecutive studio albums from Beatles ’65 (which spent its sixth week at #1 in February 1965) to Abbey Road in December 1969. * Taylor Swift is the first and only act to release four albums (Speak Now, Red, 1989, & reputation) that sold more than one million copies in their debut week. * Taylor Swift is the second woman in history to have more than one album log more than 10 weeks at no. 1 in Billboard 200 chart (Fearless & 1989). In total, only seven acts have gained this: Whitney Houston (with three), Taylor Swift (with two), The Beatles (with four), The Kingston Trio (with three), Henry Mancini (with two), The Monkees (with two) and Elvis Presley (with three). *1989 is the only album to have 5 singles reach #1 on US iTunes. Also, it is the only album since Katy Perry's "Teenage Dream" to have 5 singles reach top 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously. *On October 2015, Taylor Swift tied Katy Perry's record for accumulating 5 singles atop the Adult Pop Songs chart by a single album, making 1989 ''the second album to do so. *1989 is just the second album in the Pop Songs chart's 23-year history to yield at least five No. 1s, and the first such set churned out a record six: Katy Perry's Teenage Dream. *Taylor Swift's 1989 album celebrates a full first year in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 chart, making it just the fifth album to spend its first 52 weeks of release in the top 10. *Taylor Swift is the only act to have earned more than one album (''Red, 1989) with 50+ weeks in the top 10 of Billboard 200 chart. *Taylor Swift received a diamond certification in Australia for her album 1989, making her the first female artist and second artist after Ed Sheeran to do so. *Rolling Stones named "Speak Now" as the Best Album of 2010. *Taylor Swift owns the most awarded country and pop album (Fearless, 1989) in history. *Taylor Swift has two diamond elidgble tracks and two diamond eligble albums. *Taylor Swift is the 11th most awarded female artist in Grammy history with 10 wins. *Taylor Swift is the youngest artist to win Album of the Year in Grammy history. In 2009 she would win for her album, Fearless at only 20 years old. Singles *Taylor Swift holds the record by a female artist for the most entries in the Hot 100 during a one-week period, with 11. *Taylor Swift holds the all-time record for the most top ten debuts on the Hot 100, with 12. *Taylor Swift is among the 10 acts (Elvis Presley, Lil Wayne, Elton John, Glee Cast, The Beatles, Madonna, Stevie Wonder, James Brown, and Aretha Franklin) having the most top 40 singles of all time, with 49; tying her with Madonna. *With more than 8 million units sold, "Love Story" is the worldwide best-selling country song of all time. *On August 13, 2012, "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" was the Fastest Selling Single in digital History. The song reached the top position on the iTunes singles chart in 50 minutes, hence breaking the previous record held by Lady Gaga's "Born This Way", with a record of an hour. * "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" sold 623K copies in its first week. On October 14, 2012, "I Knew You Were Trouble" sold 416,000 in its first week making Taylor Swift the first artist in digital history to have two songs that debuted with sales of 400,000 or more copies. 10 songs in digital history have sold 400K or more copies the first week out. Swift is the only artist with two of them. * "I Knew You Were Trouble" became the 4th highest single-week download sales and 2nd best for a track not in its debut frame. * On June 1, 2014, the song "Mean" by Swift, was listed at #24 on Rolling Stone magazine's "Top 100 Greatest Country Songs of All Time". Moreover, Rolling Stone Magazine named it as the greatest country song of the 21st century. * Taylor Swift is among an elite group of acts that have charted multiple songs (two or more) in the Hot 100's top 10 simultaneously for at least 19 weeks. Here are the acts to do so: Usher (41), 50 Cent (38), Akon (27), The Beatles (25), T-Pain (25), Rihanna (23), Ludacris (22), Mariah Carey (20), Taylor Swift (19), Ja Rule (18), Kanye West (18). * "Shake It Off" is among the only 25 songs that debuted at no. 1 on Billboard Hot 100. *On August 26, 2014 "Shake It Off" debuted at No. 12 on the Billboard Pop Songs chart tying it with "Dreamlover" by Mariah Carey for the highest debut in the chart's twenty two-year history. *Swift becomes the first woman in the Billboard Hot 100's 56-year history to succeed herself at the top spot after Blank Space jumped from 13-1 dethroning her hit single Shake It Off. *In May 2015 Swift's single Bad Blood jumped from No.53 to No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 becoming Swift's 49th Top 40 Hit, tying her with Madonna with the most Top 40 hits for a woman since the charts inception. Hitting No. 1 at Billboard Pop Chart in just five weeks, the track makes the quickest climb to the top in 10 years. *Rolling Stones named "We Are Never Ever Getting Back Together" as the best song of 2012 by a female artist. Music Videos *On May 21, 2015, Taylor Swift's Bad Blood music video broke Vevo's 24-hour viewing record by accumulating 20.1 million views in its first day of release, beating the 19.6 million 24-hour record previously held by Nicki Minaj for the music video of her song Anaconda in 2014. It was later on broke by Adele's Hello music video which garnered more than 23 million views in its first day. *On July 3, 2015, Taylor Swift's Blank Space became the 1st solo artist and solo female artist music video to reach 1 billion views on Vevo. She is the 2nd female artist to do this after Katy Perry & Juicy J's Dark Horse music video. She is the 3rd Vevo artist to accomplish this after Justin Bieber & Ludacris' Baby and Katy Perry & Juicy J's Dark Horse music videos. On YouTube, she is the 4th artist to reach this after Psy's Gangnam Style, Justin Bieber & Ludacris' Baby, and Katy Perry & Juicy J's Dark Horse music videos. She is the 2nd solo artist, 2nd female artist, and 1st solo female artist on YouTube to reach this. Moreover, it is the fastest music video ever by a Vevo artist to reach 1 billion views in a record of just 8 months. *On August 14, 2015, Shake It Off music video reached 1 billion views: just 4 days before it celebrated 1 year of release. It is her second music video to reach 1 billion views on YouTube and Vevo, making her the second artist to do so. *On October 21, 2015, Blank Space ''music video surpassed the views of Justin Bieber's ''Baby ''music video, making it the most-viewed video in Vevo's history. Concert Tours *On August 27, 2009, Taylor Swift performed a show in Madison Square Garden from her highly successful Fearless Tour. The show sold out in a record of 1 minute. * On August 20, 2013, Swift was honored by Staples Center Senior Vice President and General Manager Lee Zeidman and officials from Red tour promoter Messina Group for breaking the record of the most sold-out shows for a solo artist. Her four sold out shows occurring on August 19–20 and 23-24 began a wave of record breaking shows. On August 19 she surpassed Madonna and Justin Timberlake, who each have logged seven sellouts, and on August 20 she topped Britney Spears' previous record of eight sellouts. Following her August 23–24 shows she became the #1 Solo Artist and tied with Latin Pop Group Mana for most overall sellouts with 11. *On October 26, 2013, Swift became the first solo female artist in 20 years to headline a national stadium tour through Australia, with the last being Madonna's "Girlie Show" tour in 1993. *On December 4, 2013, Swift performed to a capacity crowd of over 40,900 fans at the Allianz Stadium: Sydney, Australia; becoming first female artist in history to sell out the stadium since opening in 1988. * On April 2014, Swift Breaks Shanghai Record Selling Out the Mercedes-Benz Arena, which seats about 12,000 for a concert, in sixty seconds following the release of her tickets. This is the fastest ticket sale in Chinese history. * The Red Tour became the highest-grossing tour by a country artist in history, bringing in an overall gross of $150 million surpassing the prior country artist record held by double-billed Tim McGraw and Faith Hill Soul2Soul tour that brought in $141 million. * On August 21, 2015, Taylor received a permanent championship banner at Staples Center for the most sold-out shows by an artist, with 16, breaking her previous record of 11. The banner is permanently displayed at Staples Center in LA. * The reputation Stadium tour became the highest grossing North American tour and highest tour gross for a female artist this decade ($345 million) with only 53 shows. RIAA *In February 2010, Swift was awarded "Most Digital Song Certifications - Female Solo Artist" by RIAA for 25 songs achieving gold or multi- platinum status. * On January 22, 2015, Swift surpassed Katy Perry (72 million) as the best selling digital singles artist in the United States, with cumulative G&P Digital Single Certifications of over 77 million including downloads and on-demand streaming. Making Swift the second artist to surpass the 70 million digital award threshold. Previously Swift was holding strong in second place with 69.9 million digital singles. * On March 10, 2015, the RIAA increased Swift's cumulative G&P Digital Single Certifications to over 80.5 million including downloads and on-demand streaming. Making Swift the first artist to surpass the 80 million digital award threshold. Persona *When Taylor Swift was in 4th grade, she won a national poetry contest with her poem entitled "Monster in My Closet" at the age of only 10. *When she was just 12 years old, Taylor Swift spent a summer writing a novel. At 350 pages, the story is finished and ready for print. *At the end of 2009, the ''Associated Press named Swift "Entertainer of the Year". *Later in November 2010, Swift was named "Entertainer of the Year" by Entertainment Weekly, making her the youngest Entertainment Weekly's Entertainer of the Year. *On June 2011, renowned site Boot named Swift and Carrie Underwood Country Royalty, as they were the only female country artists to be ranked on Rolling Stone Queens of Pop list. * In March 2013, Swift was named an immortal by Rolling Stone magazine. The 23-year-old and some of the post-millennial girl-power pop elite, including Beyoncé, were among 14 new immortals to join the pop culture arbiter's list of greatest artists of all time. "If Taylor Swift stopped producing hits right now, at 23, she could tour a killer oldies show for the rest of her life," Rolling Stone proclaimed. * At the end of 2009, "USA Today" named Swift "Musician of the Year". *Taylor Swift was listed in Time Magazine's 100 Most Influential People twice in 2010 and in 2015. Stevie Nicks and Mariska Hargitay wrote essays on Swift for the magazine. *Taylor Swift is the first artist named as "Woman of the Year" twice by Billboard (2011/14). *In 2015, Taylor Swift became the youngest woman ever, age 25, to be included on Forbes' "100 Most Powerful Women" list, ranking at #64. *Also in 2015, Taylor Swift is the youngest person, age 25, to enter Fortune's 40 Under 40 List, ranking at #6; the highest rank ever for an entertainer on the list. *Taylor Swift stayed 31 Weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Artist 100, the most of any artist. *Taylor Swift was named as the most charitable celebrity by Dosomething.org for fourth year in a row (2012, 2013, 2014, 2015). *At the age of only 26, Taylor Swift is the youngest person to be included in 2016 Forbes' America's Self-Made Women List with a net worth of $250 M. Awards and Nominations *The 2009 win of Fearless in the Album Of the Year category made Swift the youngest artist in ACM history to win the award. She also became the second female artist after Carrie Underwood to win back-to-back Academy of Country Music (ACM) Awards for Entertainer of the Year (2011/12). She is also the youngest artist to win Entertainer of the Year. *At the BMI's 57th Annual Pop Awards in 2009, Swift received the BMI President’s Award, which honors an exceptional individual in the entertainment industry deserving of special recognition. The BMI President’s Award is presented only on unique occasions when an individual has distinctly and profoundly influenced the industry. *In 2013, Swift was honored Songwriter/Artist of the Year by Nashville Songwriters Association International Award for the sixth time, surpassing five-time winners Vince Gill and Alan Jackson. In 2015, she was awarded again with the same award, setting a new record of 7. *When Swift won her 19th award in 2013, she became the most-awarded person in Teen Choice history. *On November 23, 2014, Swift accepted the first ever Dick Clark Award for Excellence; a special award given to her by the American Music Awards *Taylor Swift is the only only artist to win American Music Awards' Artist of the Year thrice. *At the age of 20, Taylor Swift is the youngest recipient of the Grammy Award for Album of the Year for her album Fearless. *At age 19, Swift is the youngest artist to ever be nominated for, and win, Country Music Association Awards' Entertainer of the Year. Additionally, Swift was also awarded by CMA with the "International Artist Achievement Award" in 2009 and 2013, which recognizes outstanding U.S.-based artists who contribute the awareness and development of country music throughout the world. Swift became the first female country singer to be nominated for five or more awards since Reba McEntire was nominated for seven awards back in 1994. In 2013, Swift became the second person (and the first woman) to receive the Country Music Association's Pinnacle Award. *Taylor Swift is the first country singer to ever win a VMA. *Taylor Swift is the youngest songwriter to receive Hal David Starlight Award. *Taylor Swift is the most awarded artist in Billboard Music Awards' history, with 22 up-to-date. *Taylor Swift received 9 nominations in the 2015 MTV EMA. The most nomination for an artist in the said award show. *Taylor Swift is the first ever artist to win both the Grammy Award for Best Country Album (which she won in 2010) and the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album (which she won in 2016). *Taylor Swift is the first female artist ever to win the Grammy Award for Album of the Year twice for her own albums (Fearless and 1989). *BMI presented Taylor Swift with an award bearing her name in recognition of her incomparable creative and artistic talent and influence on music lovers throughout the world. This is only the second time in BMI’s history that the company has presented an award in someone’s name. The first was to Michael Jackson in 1990. Social Media *On September 2015, Taylor Swift became the most-followed person on Instagram with 45.6 million followers beating Beyoncé and Kim Kardashian. She was later on surpassed by Selena Gomez. *Taylor Swift is the first person ever to have 50 million followers on Instagram which she acquired in early October 2015. *Taylor Swift is the most popular celebrity on social media. She has more than 300 million combined Facebook page likes, Twitter & Instagram followers, and YouTube & Vevo subscribers. *Despite pulling off her catalog, Taylor Swift is the 4th most followed female artist on Spotify.